ASU’s Biodesign Institute, Singapore’s National University Health System team up for heart disease

October 6, 2009

By Flinn Foundation

[Source: Eureka Alert] – In a new international partnership, Dr. Randy Nelson, a researcher at Arizona State University’s Biodesign Institute, and Dr. Tai E-Shyong , associate professor at Singapore’s National University Hospital, National University Health System (NUHS), have teamed up to assess the risk of heart disease in diabetics with greater accuracy.

The new study, funded by Singapore’s National Medical Research Council, will focus on patients in Singapore with and without diabetes, a known risk factor of cardiovascular disease. The research team will examine blood samples from individuals, providing an early glimpse into the key role of a cholesterol component, the so-called ‘good cholesterol,’ known as high-density lipoprotein, or HDL. The team’s goal is to identify more accurate HDL biomarkers—tell-tale protein signatures—that have the potential to be earlier and more accurate predictors of cardiovascular disease risk.